Method of labeling meats.



UNITE 'rn'rns GEORGE E. HOWARD, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

METHOD OF LABELING MEATS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 683,765, dated October 1, 1901.

Application filed June 18,1901. Serial No. 65,086. (No specimens.)

To all whom, it nuty' concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. HOWARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Labeling Meats, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the method of labeling articles, such as meat and the like, and in putting my improved method into practice I have in contemplation the use of such materials and chemicals only as will not be detrimental to health, which will be colorless and odorless, and will not in any wise afiect or injure the quality, appear ance, or marketability of the article or object in connection with which the method is employed.

With the foregoing objects in view my improved method is as follows:

I employ a medium; such as paper. This paper must be thin and flexible and is preferably what is commonly known as tissuepaper or paper similar in character and texture either at the outset or when treated. This medium or paper substratum is preferably first treated with a suitable preparation of gelatin, gum, or similar substance which will hold copying-ink, facilitate its imprint upon or transfer to the meat or article to be labeled, and cause the adhesion of the label to the meat or like surface. The mediumthe thin flexible paper thus treated-has the label subject-matter printedthereon in reverse in copying-ink or similar substance. The label thus prepared is applied to the surface to be labeled with the treated and printed surface of the paper against and upon the surface to be labeled, where it adheres and is legible through the paper as long as the paper remains on the surface. If the meat is freshly killed and moist, no additional moisture is required; but if too dry for copying then the surface of the meat and the external surface of the label are treated with a suitable solution of gelatin, gum, sugar, or similar substance to retain moisture and facilitate the transfer. As the printed matter itself becomes imprinted or transferred upon the surface to be labeled by the act of applying the label, the meat or other object to be labeled itself becomes indelibly marked with To recapitulate, my method consists, in the main, in the employment of a medium, such as thin tissue-paper or substance which be comes transparent if not already transparent, upon which the label subject-matter is applied in reverse in copying-ink andapplying that label upon thesurface to be labeled, so that it is imprinted upon or transferred to the surface to be labeled and legible through the medium which carried it if that medium is permitted to remain adherent to the surface.

While the foregoing steps of the process are preferable in order to accomplish the best results, yet they are not all absolutely necessary, as they might be used singly or combinedly, as preferred and found most desirable.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The herein-described method of labeling, consisting in aflixing the label subject-matter in reverse order in copying-ink to a transparent medium, and finally applying that medium face inward to the article to be labeled, whereby the label subject-matter is rendered legible through the medium if the latter remains on the object or directly from the object if the medium is removed.

2. The herein-described method of applying labels to meat or like surfaces consisting in treating a thin flexible medium such as tissue-paper to a coating of gelatinous substance, printing upom said substance the subject-matter of the label, in reverse, applying this printed surface to the surface to be labeled and transferring the subject-matter of the label thereto.

3. The herein-described method of applying labels to meat or like surfaces consisting in treating a tissue-paper with a gelatinous coating, printing in reverse in copying-ink on said surface, and transferring the print upon the surface tobe labeled by applying the printed surface of the paper, with moisspecification in the presence of two subscribture if meat or other substance is dry, face ing witnesses. down upon the object to be labeled, and ap- 1 plying a suitable preparation of gelatin, gum HOWARD 5 or sugar to render the paper transparent and Witnesses:

facilitate copying. FRANK E. NEWTON,

In testimony whereof I have signed this VERNON E. HODGESI 

